Activities added to Martinsburg celebration

May 10, 2013

MARTINSBURG - Several new activities have been added to this year's Martinsburg Heritage Day celebrations Saturday. Sponsored by Relay for Life of Berkeley County, Jamfest 2013 will be held in the East Burke Street parking lot, featuring vendors, bands, games and entertainment from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Sher Bears will be selling breakfast until 10 a.m. Registration for Jamfest's corn hole tournament will be at 11 a.m. and there will be a "Kicking for a Cure" karate demonstration by Master Clyde.

Old photographs of downtown Martinsburg will be on display at the Martinsburg Public Library's King Street foyer from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The films "Martinsburg 1950s" and "Highland Pride: The Life of Adam Stephen" will be shown continuously at the library throughout the day. And Max Mosse will reminisce about Martinsburg of the 1940s to the 1970s at the library at 10:30 a.m.

From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Norwalk Antique Car Club will host an antique car show at the B&O Roundhouse. Vintage bicycles and antique steam engines by John Clevenger and the Dillon Farm Museum also will be on display.

Article Photos

Journal photo by John McVey

From left, Keith Hammersla, chairman of the Martinsburg Heritage Day committee, Barbara Bralick, committee member, listen as Martinsburg Mayor George Karos reads a resolution proclaiming Saturday Martinsburg Heritage Day at Thursday’s City Council meeting. Several historic homes and buildings throughout the city will be open for tours and activities from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday to celebrate Martinsburg’s heritage.

Shown by the Friends of Norwalk Foundation, the Norwalk Underslung Six will make a special appearance.

Popular attractions will again be available for tours this year.

Charles Connolly and Rebecca Frye will open their home again this year for tours from 10 to 5 p.m. At 405 Boyd Ave., Aspen Hall was built around 1746 along the banks of the Tuscarora Creek. The estate includes Mendenhall's Fort, a rare, limestone blockhouse built to protect the frontier homestead.

The new owners of Boydville, Jonathon and Meagan Mann, will open the 1812 mansion and estate for tours. Members of Friends of Boydville will assist with the tours.

Located at 601 S. Queen St., Boydville was built by Gen. Elisha Boyd, who fought in the War of 1812, and was home to several generations of the Charles James Faulkner family.

Jonathan Mann's grandmother, Wanda Brady, will carry on the tradition of cooking bean soup and cornbread for the day. Curated by Barbara Bratina, an exhibit of antique and vintage clothing, including items on loan from the Boyd/Faulkner family collection, will be on display, along with demonstrations by the Heritage Craft Center and Master Gardeners.

Longtime favorites also will be open for Martinsburg Heritage Day.

Opening ceremonies will be conducted at 9:30 a.m. at the Adam Stephen Monument in the 600 block of South Queen Street. A wreath-laying ceremony will be conducted by the Gen. Adam Stephen Chapter of the West Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Pack Horse Ford Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Tours of the Gen. Adam Stephen House and Triple Brick Museum at 309 E. John St. will given from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Photographer Sterling "Rip" Smith will have an exhibit of the Stephen House and his book with the photos will be on sale.

The Sumner-Ramer African-American School Museum at 515 W. Martin St. will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Memorabilia and photographs from when it was Berkeley County's only African-American school will be exhibited and the Berkeley County Chapter NAACP will have an information booth available.

Displays and information about the 150th anniversary of West Virginia's statehood and a collection of drawings by Martinsburg native David Hunter Strother, also known as Porte Crayon, will be featured at the Belle Boyd House along with tours of the house and Berkeley County Museum at 126 E. Race St. from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Other activities include the Road Trip to History video about Martinsburg and Berkeley County showing at the Martinsburg-Berkeley Convention and Visitors Bureau, 121 N. Queen St., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wonderment Puppet Theater's Walk-A-Round puppets will make their way through downtown from 10 to 11 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.; and free trolley rides with stops at each of the historic locations will be provided until 6 p.m.

Parking along the streets and in city parking lots will be free.

Admission to all sites is free unless noted. Donations are accepted at all locations.